OnSafety is the Official Blog Site of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Here you'll find the latest safety information as well as important messages that will keep you and your family safe. We hope you'll visit often!

“Crib mattresses recalled due to risk of entrapment.” “Seven million brewing systems recalled due to burn hazard.” “Millions of popular strollers recalled due to fingertip amputation hazard to children.”

Headlines like these stream across the Internet and appear on TV almost weekly. But, hearing or seeing a media headline about a product recall is different than getting a direct notice from a recalling company.

Here at CPSC, we know that direct notice—whether it be a phone call, an email, or a letter—is the best way to encourage you to take advantage of a recall to repair, replace, or refund. And, one of the best tools that companies can use to reach you in the event of a recall is product registration cards.

Thanks to the “Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act,” today’s registration cards for infant and toddler products are not to be used for marketing. The information requested, including the brand and model of the product and your e-mail address, must only be used to notify you in the event of a recall.

These registration cards can help improve the effectiveness of recalls, which is a challenge that our Chairman recently discussed with ABC News. So we have a simple but important message to deliver to parents, childcare centers and other businesses: when you purchase a juvenile product, fill out the card.

Whether you use the card that comes with the product or register online, our message is the same: take the time to fill it out.

Success in this effort will mean that babies, toddlers, and young children will not be exposed to dangerous or defective products after they have been recalled. Parents, caregivers, and businesses will be notified, they will respond, and we will prevent a tragedy like the one that happened to Danny Keysar.

CPSC is not alone is spreading the word about registration cards. The Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association has a valuable campaign called, “It’s not hard! Fill out the card!” Please check out their materials at: http://jpma.org/content/parents/registration-cards. Also, Kids In Danger and the Consumer Federation of America have teamed up to provide families with a list of manufacturers that have product registration pages online: www.kidsindanger.org/productregistration.

In recent years, a new generation of safer juvenile products—including cribs, play yards, bassinets, strollers, and infant carriers—have entered the marketplace, thanks to new federal safety standards. But, there is still the occasional recall of an infant or baby product. To make sure you are notified in such a situation, you should fill out the card!

This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2015/02/product-registration-cards-think-safety-not-marketing/

In 2010, the Commission issued a new federal safety standard for cribs, banning drop side cribs and ushering in a safer generation of cribs. Drop side cribs are no longer a safe place to have your infant sleep due to a danger of entrapment and suffocation. Repair kits were previously available for some recalled LaJobi products, including drop side cribs. However, LaJobi is no longer in business and repair kits are no longer available for recalled LaJobi products. Any LaJobi-made products that have been recalled should be discarded or destroyed. Most of the product recalls involve cribs, but there is also one recall involving 12 models of a glider.

Consumers with these products should immediately stop using them and destroy or discard the item. A full list of products recalled from Lajobi are listed below with links to the recalls on cpsc.gov.

Babi Italia Pinehurst drop side cribs were sold exclusively by Babies “R” Us. Bonavita Hudson drop side cribs were sold at Baby Basics, Beautiful Beginnings, and Buy Buy Baby stores and children’s product stores nationwide for about $300. Cribs were sold from December 2006 through December 2007.

The Avalon model was sold at Burlington and other mass retail stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com, Target.com and Walmart.com from December 2009 to October 2012 for about $170. The CNS Box 2 / Katelyn model was sold exclusively online at Walmart.com from November 2011 to October 2012 for about $135.

This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2015/01/check-your-homes-for-recalled-lajobi-cribs-and-glider-rockers/

As parents and caregivers, keeping your baby safe is always your number one priority.

Pediatricians are available for great advice on the health and safety of our babies including fevers, feedings, diaper rash and even car seat safety!

There are also additional sources available when it comes to the safety of our babies that you may not always think of.

There are three federal agencies responsible for keeping the most vulnerable bundles of joy safe along with our health professionals.

Federal partners—the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) – have been working for decades to reduce infant deaths and injuries and keep babies safe.

The Safe to Sleep® campaign, led by NICHD, in collaboration with HRSA and several other organizations and in partnership with CPSC, has a wealth of downloadable resources for creating a safe space for babies and reducing the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death.

Our three agencies all recommend that babies 1) be placed on their back to sleep, 2) the sleep environment be kept free of clutter that can cause suffocation, such as pillows, quilts, comforters, and cushions; and 3) be placed to sleep in a crib, bassinet, or play yard that meet new and stronger safety standards.

These Safe to Sleep® materials can be shared with other parents, caregivers, grandparents, and health and child care providers.

You may have missed the first notice, but if you use a Summer Infant video baby monitor, be sure to check your nursery to see if you have one of the models with the recalled rechargeable batteries. This recall has been expanded to include an additional 740,000 units and there have been additional incident reports. The monitor’s rechargeable batteries can overheat, cause burns or even property damage.

Today’s announcement from CPSC and Summer Infant includes more than 20 models of Summer Infant handheld color video monitors. Check the recall for specific model and date codes included.

Summer Infant is providing a postage paid envelope to return the batteries in exchange for a free replacement battery.

Stop using the video monitors immediately, remove the batteries and contact Summer Infant at (800) 426-8627 to get the free replacement battery. The monitor can continue to be used on AC power with the power cord. Help get the word out about the recall and encourage caregivers, grandparents and child care centers to take advantage of the recall remedy.

We’re also reminding you that you can get direct email notification about product recall announcements on CPSC’s email subscription page.

As for those traditional baby monitor cords, we urge you to keep these cords at least 3 feet away from your baby’s crib to avoid a strangulation hazard. Here’s a video that shows why:

This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2014/04/expansion-recall-of-rechargeable-batteries-used-in-summer-infant-video-monitors/

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Kids and cords are a dangerous mix! No matter the product—baby monitors,window coverings, or baby movement monitors —cords in little hands can end up strangling a child.

We’re reminding you because today CPSC, in cooperation with Angelcare Monitors Inc., is announcing a recall to repair movement and sound baby monitors after two deaths. A cord attaches the baby monitor sensor pad under the crib mattress with the nursery monitor unit. This cord poses a strangulation risk if the child pulls the cord into the crib and the cord becomes wrapped around the child’s neck.

Angelcare is providing cord covers for Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitors with Sensor pads. These cord covers are designed to prevent a child from pulling the cord into the crib. Make sure to contact Angelcare at (855)355-2643 or www.angelcarebaby.com to get a free cord cover.